Goat heads pose serious threat to bicyclists everywhere. Every year thousands of bike tires are punctured by the the nasty, spiky fruit of the Tribulus terrestris plant.
They are called Goatheads because those nasty, spiky fruits resemble the head of a goat. They love to grow and spread in disturbed ground, making bike trails the ideal place for them to thrive in the dirt beside the trail. The spikes in the mature fruit love to stick into anything they come in contact with, shoes, tires, feet, hoping to catch a ride to their next germinating spot. They also thrive in hot, dry conditions where other plant cannot.
Early in their life they sport deceptively cheerful yellow flowers, innocently lurking wherever bare ground or cracks in pavement allows a foothold. Our biking group has adopted a section of trail to rid of this public enemy number one. We work as a team, finding and mutilating as many as we can while they are still in the cute yellow flower stage. And, we have made a difference. We see less now than we did the year we started. But they can be sneaky. In this particular spot they had tried to hide behind some beautiful landscaping a short distance from the trail edge. But we were on it. Four diggers, and one supervisor, all working tirelessly to quash their plans of ruining our next ride.